All good things come to a usually most displeasing and painful end, and the Egypt adventure was no different. Having now returned to the UK, I was not the most thrilled ever that catching the train involved thunder, lightning, getting wet through as though I had fallen into a swimming pool, and viciously hailed on simultaneously.

Before the return though, we had one particular final adventure - the mission to Banana Island, which even though it doesn't feature so prominently in guidebooks is indeed real. It even has bananas on it.

We were going to get a felucca from Luxor to it, but the weather was apparently too calm to make it in time so we used a motor boat instead. Best yet, us and our two pals were allowed to drive the boat. Who needs a license!? Not adventurers, that's for sure. Based on the random directioning, side to side sway and near collisions it was however perhaps a good thing that we did have a local guide with us to handle the parallel parking.

Banana Island was just lovely. There was only a little-to-none sales hassle, and fresh delicious plants grew in abundance throughout. This of course included bananas (who knows what baby bananas grow like? We do now, and they were not as I suspected), but also oranges, mandarins (I think - something else orangey), lemons and all sorts. Most were in season enough to be taste-tested. And how nice they were. When you have a freshly-picked piece of fruit direct from the plant and taste the full vibrant flavour it is readily apparent that the pieces of plastically-preserved trash they sell in UK supermarkets are at best a pale imitation of what fruit should taste like. I even ate a banana - shock. And I even half-liked it. Could this be the beginning of further radical new things?

There was a shop on the island, run by "Mr Lovely" but even there there was no irritation, just people bringing us just-grown things to eat and drink. Mmmm.

On the way back we let the official guy drive the boat whilst we drank super-tasty mint based herbal tea on the roof of the boat, enjoying our last full beautiful Egyptian sunset whilst floating down the Nile. Internal tears were surely shed.

The next day some shopping and lying around was done, trying to evade the cold hard fact we had to return…along with a further invasion of Ms Chatbox who was as ever moaning about stuff, in this case including how she was far too bored about the breakfast and couldn't wait to get home. Some people shouldn't be allowed out in the first place. Apparently breakfasts consisting of your choice of hot (kind of like fried breakfast) food, pastries, doughnuts, cereal, fruit, juice etc. are far too tedious for her with her predilection for ummm...the cornflakes every day she has in the UK.

Am far too tired and still suffering Immodium-related issues to go into further pointless detail but suffice to say we made it to the airport correctly, the plane didn't crash (despite us quaffing a bottle of champagne - now we lead the high life and all) and it is really, really cold and unpleasant in the UK.

The end...other to say that there is of course plenty more to say in person that isn't written here, photos will be probably be available soonish and forced on our nearest and dearest in due time (perhaps with a soundtrack of our favourite street-trader's phrases "No hassle in my castle - ASDA-price!" being one such example for a stall selling the usual tourist nonsense), and a swift round of personal gratitude to traveller's friend Kat for being an eternally delightful and tolerant co-pioneer.

Time to go sleep, UK time.